May 1, 2023
ENTER THE DRAGON – AFI Catalog Spotlight
In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the AFI Catalog shines a spotlight on Bruce Lee’s final and most successful film, ENTER THE DRAGON (1973), which was released 50 years ago this August just one month after Lee’s untimely death at age 32. Made for a slim budget of $850,000, with grosses...
April 3, 2023
SOYLENT GREEN – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This April marks the 50th release anniversary of the dystopian ecological thriller and cult classic SOYLENT GREEN (1973), which imagined the state of the world in 2022 with overpopulation, global warming and the vast discrepancy between rich and poor. Based in part on the 1966 novel “Make Room! Make Room!” by Harry Harrison, SOYLENT GREEN...
February 1, 2023
WATTSTAX – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This February, the AFI Catalog shines a spotlight on the landmark musical performance documentary WATTSTAX which was released 50 years ago this month. The film presents footage of what became known as the “Black Woodstock,” a seven-hour, August 1972 concert called Wattstax organized by Memphis’ Stax Records to commemorate the Watts Uprising of 1965 and...
January 6, 2023
AFI Releases Landmark Study About the Contributions of Women to Early Cinema
Initiative Documents Hundreds of Previously Unrecorded Female Filmmakers for Film History Today, AFI released the results of their groundbreaking gender study focused on silent era films. The project, titled Women They Talk About after the 1928 feature film, is an initiative documenting the widely unrecorded contributions of female filmmakers in the silent film era and...
January 3, 2023
Butterfly McQueen – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This January, the AFI Catalog shines a spotlight on actress Butterfly McQueen, who would have celebrated her 112th birthday this month. During the Golden Age of American cinema, McQueen was often relegated to stereotypical roles of domestic servants, but she continued to work sporadically through the late-1980s and earned a Daytime Emmy Award® for her...
December 1, 2022
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This December, the AFI Catalog shines a spotlight on the beloved Christmas classic IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, which premiered this month in 1946 and has remained high on AFI’s lists of the best films ever made, including #1 on AFI’s 100 YEARS…100 CHEERS list of the most inspiring films of all time. Although it received mixed reviews upon...
November 1, 2022
Mabel Normand – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This November, the AFI Catalog shines a spotlight on Mabel Normand, who was born this month in 1892 (by most accounts), and who was one of the first actresses to start her own Hollywood production company and to direct herself in films. Beginning her career in modeling as a “Gibson Girl,” Normand became a leading performer...
October 3, 2022
RICHARD III (1912) – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This month, AFI celebrates the 110th release anniversary of the 1912 epic silent film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s RICHARD III, the oldest known feature film in existence which AFI restored from a nitrate print in 1996. Long believed to be lost—as are roughly 70% of films made before 1930, according to the Library of Congress—RICHARD...
September 1, 2022
Dolores del Río – AFI Catalog Spotlight
In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the AFI Catalog shines a spotlight on Dolores del Río, the first Mexican actress to achieve mainstream success in Hollywood with a career that lasted over 50 years. Born in August 1904 to Mexican aristocrats, María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López-Negrete was nicknamed Lolita and was drawn...
August 3, 2022
New Videos Added To AFI’s Osborne Collection
This month, AFI has added new videos to its Osborne Collection for all movie lovers to watch, including Robert Osborne's famous film introductions for THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940) and A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961) to THE LEARNING TREE (1969) and VICTOR/VICTORIA (1982) and many more. The collection, which is a celebration of the...
August 1, 2022
Alice Guy Blaché – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This month, AFI celebrates the world’s first female director, Alice Guy Blaché, who made more than 700 films in a career that spanned from 1896 to 1920. Starting out as Alice Guy in her homeland France as a secretary for motion-picture camera manufacturer Léon Gaumont, she was one of the few in attendance at Lumiere’s...
July 1, 2022
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992) – AFI Catalog Spotlight
Released 30 years ago this month, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN was a box office sensation, becoming Columbia Pictures’ highest-grossing non-sequel opener to date and bringing international attention to the little-known All-American Girls Pro Baseball League (AAGPBL) which was established during World War II to entertain the public while male players were away at war....
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